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The Commoner
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The Commoner
ISSUED MONTHLY
Kntorod at tho Poatofllca tit Lincoln. Nebraska,
as second-clans mutter.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN! CHARLES W. JIIIYAN.
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Edit. ftm. and 13ufllnoa Office, Suite 207 Pross Bldj?.
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January 19 means that payment has been received
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Address all communications to
TUB COMMONHK, LINCOLN, NEIL
It has just dawned on us what it was that
wo have been missing from the daily papers in
tho last fow weeks. There doesn't seem to be
a federal grand jury anywhere that is investi
gating tho packers.
Tho business of inventing Mexican crises
seems to have been thoroughly systematized,
and any time that tho demand for intervention
falls below normal it seems remarkably easy to
market tho stored output of Mexlcau outrages.
"Who killed tho treaty?" may for a" littlo
while divert attention from tho older inquiries
like "Who killed cock-robbin?", "Who struck
Billy Patterson?", and "How old is Ann?", but
It will not bo long before tho senate will be at it
again and lot us hopo for a compromise
Tho fact that at a city election held in Buffalo
a fow weeks ago 300 votes out of a total of
64,000 wore cast for tho soviet .ticket would
Boom to indicate that there is not nearly so
grave a danger overhanging American labor as
tho mon who havo been manufacturing bol
sheviks through their profiteering activities
foarcd.
Those folks who like to brag about the prices
they )ay for shoes and wearing apparel are not
now compelled to do very much shopping in
order to afford a roasonablo ground therefor.
Incidentally they aro the folks who make it'easy
for a profiteer to salvo his conscience, or what
ho thinks is his conscience.
In his message to congress President Wilson
bore down heavily upon the necessity of adopt
ing a budget system. As this is about the
twelfth or fifteenth time that a president has
told congress that a budget system is a national
necessity, wo no longer tosB our hat in joy over
the near approach oF its adoption, but wo do
Still incline a hopeful ear in that direction.
RENEWALS
Tho subscriptions of thoso who became
subscribers with tho first issuo of Tho
Commoner, and have ronowod at" tho oloso
of each year, expire ' with tho January
(1920) Issuo. In qrdor to facilitate tho
work of changing and re-entering tho ad
drosses upon our subscription books and
mailing lists and obviate the expense
of sending out personal statements an
nouncing that renewals are duo, sub
scribers are urgently requosted to renew
with as littlo delay as possible. Tho
work of correcting tho stencils entails
an enormous amount of labor and tho
publisher asks subscribers to assist as
much as possible by making their renew
als promptly.
v
M
achmery the World's.
"Need .
Machinery-is tho moans by which tlib lav8
of nature aro turned to tho service of man.
Nature hag always been anxious to help man,
but can only do so when ho invents machinery
through which nature can work.
From tho beginning tho wind, has been blow
ing where it listeth", but it was a lbn,g time
boforo man invented tho sail boat and accepted
tho invitation to travel boforo the breeze. Af
terwards man invented tho wind-mill and no
the tireless wind raises tho water irom uio
hidden streams within the earth. More re
cently, man has invontod tho airship and now
ridos through tho air. "liko swallows on tho
wing."
Tho water has been tumbling down tho
mountain sides for ages, eager to servo, but
how could it do so until tho genius of man
devised the water whool? Now the energy that
once wastod Itself in fretting and in foaming
furnishes power for tho mill.
Steam has been rising from boiling water
since man camo upon the earth, but it strength
was dissipated because ho did not know how
to harness and direct it. Now it draws tho
seemingly endless train across the prairies and
makes tho steamship plow tho fathomless main.
The electricity that has always surcharged
tho air formerly found tho lightning its only
moans of manifesting its presence, but man's
arm has drawn it from the clouds and man's
mind has imprisoned it in a slender wire so that,
at his command, it lights our homos and sup
plies energy for myraids of machines.
It was the machine for which all these forces
waited; it is the machine that enables us to
multiply tho strength of the human arm; It is
the machine that makes man out "littlo lower
than tho angels" In his wonder working.
And, so, in government it is machinery that
translates public sentiment into constitutional
forms and needed legislative onactments. It
is machinery that enables the public to pro
mote tho public welfare and to advance tho
public good. Patriotism, without machinery
through which to express itself, is as impotent
for good as tho wind, the water, the stoam or
electricity. The groat need of tho country and
of the world today Aa machinery. Our nation
has taught tho world how to build a machine
that will put tho people in control of their
, own government and how to make that machine
responsive to tho people's will. But much re
mains yet to be dono. Tho American people
desiro peace in industry; they protest against
a condition which leaves employer ana em
ployee impotent to- protect their rights and in
terests except by resort to the lock-out or tho
strike. Wo nood machinery for the settlement
of industrial disputes before they reach tho
aeuto stage. Is Ic not strange that an intelli
gent, people, oven in tho presence of a groat
emergency, are so slow to construct tho machin
ery necessary for tho prevention of war be
tween capital and labor? A commission or
hoard empowered to investigate at. the request
of oitlier side, or on its own initiative, and to
lay all the facts before tho public is much
oasior to build than the machines that havo
made man tho master of the forces of nature.
Give us a machine," cry the people, "through
. which the high purpose and the good intentions
of the public may find expression; glvo us
this machinery for the protection of employer
and employee, as well as for our protection."
Truth clamors for expression; give it tho moans
by which it can express Itself through lawful
forms and by peaceful moans and thus silence
the turbulauce that fills our days with anxiety
abntte8futVu0rT. l0Vr f WS C S32
clnorV'ff Zee! STX
rumors of war. It is sick of blood and tears
give it machinery through which the spirit of
love and of brotherhood can find exnresshm
a ribunal in which reason instead of force wm
rule. Let international disputes be settlSd bv
a League of Nations and in accordant m
Justice and right rather than b Z biSa
methods of the battle field. As the mSn
has advanced civilization by putting th?MiNn
?LTn ? c,ontro1 of natu?e's forces, 0O, civU
izatlon will be atill further advanced when J
ernmental machinery puts tho HEART &?
world in central 0t tho- destme baahuSd!
Our nation nrlna mi'f ,..
give us industrial .peace tl e 'worTn h& '
-machinery Hhat will . givo us pea? bctl8 for
lions-- peace universal and perpetual n "a
-'" ; ' - W- J- BHYAN
A SIMPLE PLAN
Senator ICenyon'tf committee has rPnrmni .
favor of a Gommlttee of Invest "SiJSf Ited ln
settlement of industrial disputes r the
Tho plan, so far as outlined foil n ,
of the thirty peace treatle and the plan.
Nations. It should bo embodied In a w ,
passed. It is a--simple plan and sliou hav
unanimous support. Each state should have SlJv
a commission, as well as tho nation, and ?S
same p an can and should be adopted in over!
industrial community. overy
Tho permanent commission should bo com
posed of .three persons of high character one
in sympathy with tho wage-earnrs, one in
sympathy with the employing class, and tie
third as nearly impartial as possible. When
tho commission enters upon the investigation
of any dispute (whether by request of ono
of the parties or on its own initiative) it
should invite each side to select a representa
tive to bo temporarily a member of tho com
mission, each to receive pro rata compensation
with permanent commissioners The five
should have equal authority in all matters
connected with the investigation.
The finding of tho' commission would not bo
binding on either side but would rest upon
its merits. It Would, however, oe l'kely to
lead to a settlement. w. J. BRYAN.
! NO ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE
On 'another page will be found an editorial
from tho Chicago Tribune opposing the pro
posed alliance- with France. Let us hopo
that the press will now break its silonco and
unite in opposing tills attempt to transfer to
the French government the right to declare war
for' us. Wo must retain that right.
EGG MYTH EXPLODED
When the" democrats passed the tariff act of
1913 and,oggs were placed on the free list, the
republican papers, big and little, predicted the
downfall of tho American hen by the flood of
"9-cents-a-dozen" eggs that would be imported
from China. With eggs at 89 cents a dozen in
some cities, will the republicans kindly explain?
"BREEDERS OF BOLSHEVISM"
It is not always necessary to go to the funny
columns ot the newspapers to find real humor;
that oftenabounds in arguments seriously ad
vanced to bolster up a bad cause. The mino
owners havo insisted that any increase in the
cost of mining would have to be added to tho
price of coal, a position entirely without logic
unless it can bo shown that only reasonable
profits are being mado by tho mino owners.
When ex-Secretary McAdoo, a few days ago,
called attention to tho enormous profits made
by tho mino owners during the first year of
the war thoy indignantly replied that his indict
ment "carried no weight and required no an
swer," and then, to completely humiliate tho
ox-Secretary, they added that such "misleading
statements and insinuations are the k'nd of
stuff which bolshevism bjeds upon." There is
no doubt that bolshevism has a breeding place.
and that there are things which tend to create
bolshpvism. The mine owners, howover, aro
mistaken as to the real cause of bolshevism;
truth is not tho egg out of which bolslievism
is 'hatched. Bolshevism finds a breeding place
in consciousless profits and In the unpatriotic
plundering of a nation when war is straining
its strength and calling for patriotism
Mothers were giving up their sons to the dan
gers of tho battle field and wives were taking
upon themselves a double duty while husbands
went to the front. Anxiety weighod down upon
tho homes of the land and filled tho nights
with solicitude. It was no timo for exorbitant
profits wrung from people over-burdened by
taxation. An investigation is needed; tlie
country can then determino whether tho mine
owners are justified in resisting tho demands
made by the mine workers. To denounce ex
posure of their big return's and to attempt
silence protests with epithet and denunciation
-does not help 'the cause of tho mine-owners.
Such as these -and not thoso who demand ligi1
ard responsible-for the motion's unrest.
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